With a street grid from the Dutch settlement and Colonial era, overlaid with modern residential high rises and a 24/7 live-work community, Lower Manhattan faces unique challenges from car, bus and truck traffic, garbage collection, and pedestrian and tourist flows. Manhattan’s Community Board 1 has the fourth worst air quality of the City's 59 community boards and roughly 75 major construction projects currently taking place. Security infrastructure and enormous piles of trash bags and recycling crowd Lower Manhattan’s narrow, congested sidewalks. We call on our elected officials to undertake a comprehensive survey and action plan to measure and mitigate these unique stressors on our neighborhood's quality of life and create a more livable, walkable Lower Manhattan.

Our request is consistent with the City's Vision Zero plan and is especially urgent after the recent tragic case of an MTA bus hitting and killing a woman near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal at State and Water streets in the Financial District on October 22, 2016. It is also consistent with the Manhattan Community Board 1 position: CB1 unanimously passed a resolution on June 28, 2016 requesting that the NYC Department of Transportation review the increased congestion due to the tripling of residential population since 9/11 and tripling of annual tourists to 15 million.

It is time for the City to take a proactive, holistic approach to managing traffic and pedestrian flow in the historic street grid of Lower Manhattan. We support CB1's request that the City dedicate funding for a modeling study to establish conditions on the street and sidewalk, and implement a framework for managed streets and traffic improvements in Lower Manhattan. The problems facing Lower Manhattan are unique, and require unique solutions.

Please join us in requesting public funding to develop solutions for these problems.

With a street grid from the Dutch settlement and Colonial era, overlaid with modern residential high rises and a 24/7 live-work community, Lower Manhattan faces unique challenges from car, bus and truck traffic, garbage collection, and pedestrian and tourist flows. Manhattan’s Community Board 1 has the fourth worst air quality of the City's 59 community boards and roughly 75 major construction projects currently taking place. Security infrastructure and enormous piles of trash bags and recycling crowd Lower Manhattan’s narrow, congested sidewalks. We call on our elected officials to undertake a comprehensive survey and action plan to measure and mitigate these unique stressors on our neighborhood's quality of life and create a more livable, walkable Lower Manhattan.

We urge you, our local elected officials, including NYC Council Member Chin, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Public Advocate Letitia James and Mayor Bill de Blasio to provide funding for both a Lower Manhattan Pedestrian Traffic Safety and Mobility Study and implementation for solutions to address the challenges that pedestrians face in Lower Manhattan. We need your support to ensure that our neighborhood is not a victim of its own success, but continues to improve each day, as it has for the past 15 years.

Our request is consistent with the City's Vision Zero plan and is especially urgent after the recent tragic case of an MTA bus hitting and killing a woman near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal at State and Water streets in the Financial District on October 22, 2016. It is also consistent with the Manhattan Community Board 1 position: CB1 unanimously passed a resolution on June 28, 2016 requesting that the NYC Department of Transportation review the increased congestion due to the tripling of residential population since 9/11 and tripling of annual tourists to 15 million.

It is time for the City to take a proactive, holistic approach to managing traffic and pedestrian flow in the historic street grid of Lower Manhattan. We support CB1's request that the City dedicate funding for a modeling study to establish conditions on the street and sidewalk, and implement a framework for managed streets and traffic improvements in Lower Manhattan. The problems facing Lower Manhattan are unique, and require unique solutions.

Please join us in requesting public funding to develop solutions for these problems.

Your message has been sent to Manhattan Community Board 1, Council Member Margaret Chin, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Public Advocate Letitia James, NYS Senator Squadron, Assembly Member Niou.